The
kids following in mums or dads footsteps isnt exactly
an earth shattering departure. But when mum is an Oscar-winning little
old lady, its something to take note of. And thats just what
TV Week was doing on one such success story last week in Hollywood.

It
may have struck some on the Hawaii
Five-O set as a mother-son publicity gimmick. But for James MacArthur
it was much more.

The episode the son of Helen Hayes and playwright Charles MacArthur was
filming with his mother would have been unthinkable for him just a few
years ago.

I
had a hang-up about being the son of when I began the show,
the series Detective Danny Williams explained. In fact, this
is the first time weve worked together in a serious professional
sense.

I
was even reluctant to talk about my parents. It had nothing to do with
our relationship. I wanted to be accepted for myself. But I didnt
have the confidence I do now and there was always that nagging doubt ...

This
was just one of the problems weighing heavily on the husky, 37-year-old
actor when he joined the Honolulu-filmed series eight years ago, unhappily
typecast as a James Dean and reeling from a broken marriage.

Today
by contrast he is happily remarried, to F Troops Melody Patterson,
has a successful island business and is honing a new talent in local theatre
as a director. His credits include The Front Page, the hit his
late father wrote with Ben Hecht.

This
show has changed my life, Jim said. As for the future, Id
love to direct movies -- even try my hand at producing. My mother keeps
encouraging me to make a career of it.

He
keeps encouraging her to slow down a little. But since a bronchial condition
forced the 75-year-old Broadway legend to retire from the stage six years
ago she has carved out a new career in films and television.

The
aunt she plays to Jims Danny in a guest stint on the Viacom series
is the latest in what she calls her little-old-lady dodge
which has already netted her an Oscar for Airport.

Not
all her LOL roles have been so successful and Jim delights
in teasing her that The Snoop Sisters, a short-lived mystery series
she co-starred in with Mildred Natwick, hardly rivalled Hawaii Five-Os
longevity.

They
expected us to somehow overcome dull scripts and pump life into it,
she snorted.

But
Millie and I didnt become famous performing in dull plays and movies.
We desperately needed wonderful lines to say.